John Smoltz sees similarities between Braves protests and Chief Wahoo

Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz saw fan protests during the biggest moments of his career. When his Atlanta Braves met the Cleveland Indians in the World Series in 1995, Smoltz remembers cries for both teams to change how they portrayed Native Americans.

At the urging of commissioner Rob Manfred, Cleveland took a step toward that Monday, announcing it would phase out the Chief Wahoo mascot by 2019. The team will be allowed to wear the mascot in 2018, but it will not appear on their uniforms in 2019.

Smoltz — who’s been an analyst at MLB Network since retiring — discussed that issue with Yahoo Sports on Monday, and touched on some parallels between the Chief Wahoo situation and the Braves protests he experienced throughout his playing career.

“This has been a discussion,” he said. “I look back ever since ’95 when we, ironically, played the Indians in the World Series. There were protests. I think that’s really kind of the start.”

It might take the Braves being good again to kickstart that conversation, though. While Smoltz says he saw protests a couple times during his career, they got much louder once the team started winning games.

“We never saw that when we were losing 100-some games,” he said. “It just wasn’t part of the deal. But as soon as it got to a higher visibility … that’s when we started seeing it.”

The similarities end there. Braves fans don’t dress up as much today, but the tomahawk chop and chant still happen.

That’s the type of activity Manfred has tried to put an end to the past couple years. He started to crack down on Chief Wahoo after Cleveland’s World Series run in 2016. He issued a harsh statement on “inexcusable behavior” after Adam Jones heard a racial slur at Fenway Park in May. And he handed down a five-game suspension to Yulieski Gurriel after he made a racist gesture toward Yu Darvish in the World Series.

You can debate the effectiveness of his policies in each case, but they were all done with the intention of making baseball more tolerant. With that reasoning, it’s plausible to wonder if Manfred will turn his eye toward that type of behavior next. That’s a bit more complicated, as it deals with fans, an area Manfred hasn’t waded into yet.

Just like with Chief Wahoo, it might take the Braves getting back into the national spotlight to compel Manfred to take action.